Tag: news

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Scotland does a better job of monitoring bathing water quality than England does

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today, the above map, and: England’s swimming waters five times more likely to be polluted than in EU, research finds Experts warn country is in danger of becoming ‘dirty man of Europe’ as it falls to bottom of bathing water leader board. The campaign group Best for Britain analysed the quality of bathing waters under UK and EU standards and found that across all four nations of the UK, holidaymakers are less likely to enjoy “excellent” quality waters than in the EU. Their research found … Continue reading Scotland does a better job of monitoring bathing water quality than England does

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This headline is, factually inaccurate, misleading and offensive in a democracy

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By stewartb Another example of the Daily Record plumbing the depths of political journalism in support of a British Labour Party politician choosing to mislead (or just lie) whilst talking down Scotland? (With apologies for the length of what follows but it seems to me to be an interesting illustration of engaging with an AI research tool.) I posed a series of questions to ChatGPT: ‘The Scottish newspaper, the Daily Record had this headline today 7 August: “Gordon Brown warns child poverty in Scotland is getting ‘worse every day’ as he calls for UK Government action”. Is the statistic claimed … Continue reading This headline is, factually inaccurate, misleading and offensive in a democracy

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Not another one

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By Liz S Last year in October there was an article on the BBC website. “Scottish government avoids defeat over housing emergency ‘failure’” “Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar put forward the motion which was debated by MSPs at Holyrood. It was defeated by 60 votes to 54 with eight abstentions”. “Instead, a motion amended by the government which removed the claim it had failed in responding to the emergency passed by 59 votes to 55 with eight abstentions”. “Sarwar stated homelessness on the rise” and he also said “Every number a human being in need of help and every missed … Continue reading Not another one

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How under Scottish Labour, hospitals were ‘death traps’ of hospital acquired infections and how Nicola Sturgeon sorted it

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’m grateful to one of our Anons and to Arty Hetty for alerting me to this, in the wake of Jackie Baillie’s scurrilous misuse of statistics to suggest Scotland’s hospitals were ‘death traps‘ for old folk falling. People should be reminded that when JB was in government Scottish hospitals were death traps due to hospital acquired infections, which were affecting 10% of patients when Labour left office. The rate has now been halved and Scotland’s rate is lower than that in England and lower than the OECD average. I had a friend who worked at major … Continue reading How under Scottish Labour, hospitals were ‘death traps’ of hospital acquired infections and how Nicola Sturgeon sorted it

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Improvement in attainment WITHIN the disadvantaged group matters and the SNP have doubled it in only 10 years but narrowing the ‘gap’ BETWEEN groups is both far less important and largely beyond all of us

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Professor John Robertson OBA, for nearly 40 years a schoolteacher, a teacher education lecturer, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance, research methods lecturer, PhD supervisor and Faculty Research Ethics Chair The ‘Scottish’ media are frothing today about the SNP failing to narrow the attainment gap between those students from the most and the least deprived areas. In my 50 years researching and thinking, talking with colleagues across school and higher education, I’ve never met anyone who thinks we should be worrying about or trying to do anything about narrowing the class-based gap. Only in Albania and Maoist China were the gaps … Continue reading Improvement in attainment WITHIN the disadvantaged group matters and the SNP have doubled it in only 10 years but narrowing the ‘gap’ BETWEEN groups is both far less important and largely beyond all of us

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As BBC Scotland anticipate a widening attainment gap today, how the SNP HAS CLOSED the attainment gap within Scottish schools and WIDENED it with England

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Professor John Robertson OBA This morning BBC UK’s Scotland Correspondent repeated the old ‘concerns about the Scottish Government’s failure to close the attainment gap.‘ It’s a lie. From the Scottish Government’s Literacy and numeracy standards reach record high report in December 2024: The proportion of pupils achieving the expected level in literacy and numeracy across primary and secondary schools has reached a new high, officials figures show. For numeracy, a record 80.3% of pupils across P1, P4 and P7 reached expected levels, while S3 also reached a new high of 90.3%. For literacy, achievement is also now at a record high … Continue reading As BBC Scotland anticipate a widening attainment gap today, how the SNP HAS CLOSED the attainment gap within Scottish schools and WIDENED it with England

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NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Wales yesterday, the above and this astonishing news: NHS patients from Wales who need knee and hip operations in England face lengthy delays after a health board asked English hospitals to copy Wales’ longer waiting times. Powys health board announced the change as it could not afford the cost of how quickly operations over the border were being carried out, but patients have said they were not informed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp89337gm7ro With NHS England and NHS Wales both now in the clutches of Starmerite thinking, you see how things will go for them both. Lisa Summers … Continue reading NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

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As demand for organ donation soars, donor consent is 11% higher in Scotland – imagine the media if that was the other way round?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Sussex and featured in BBC Breakfast broadcasts today, the above story, and: At the time, there were about 1,000 transplants a year and about 2,500 people on the waiting list. From 2024 to 2025, more than 4,500 transplants have been carried out a year and about 8,000 people are on the waiting list, according to NHS Blood and Transplant. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgv929rpl3o From Organ donation in England and the UK: Statistics and law changes (House of lords Library), published on 6 December 2023: Organ donation is a devolved matter in the UK. The main impact of … Continue reading As demand for organ donation soars, donor consent is 11% higher in Scotland – imagine the media if that was the other way round?

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10 countries already routinely issue iodine tablets to those near nuclear facilities but with the highest cancer rates in world, Scotland, dependent on Westminster, does not

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Professor John Robertson OBA Sky News in September 2019, reported: France is to give free iodine tablets to more people living near the country’s 19 nuclear plants. Around 2.2 million people living within 20km (12.4 miles) of a nuclear plant will be given the tablets to protect their bodies from the effects of radiation in the event of an accident. In 2016, five years after the nuclear accident in the Japanese city of Fukushima, France gave iodine to those living within 10km (6.2 miles) of a nuclear plant. Thyroid cancer incidence in France has increased dramatically over recent decades, particularly … Continue reading 10 countries already routinely issue iodine tablets to those near nuclear facilities but with the highest cancer rates in world, Scotland, dependent on Westminster, does not

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There is nothing worse than Scottish exceptionalism on summer riots? Yes, the dark kind Tory and Labour SPADs spend their hours grubbing for

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Professor John Robertson OBA In Holyrood Sources YouTube podcast (?), three days ago, with an ex-SNP (disappointing) and and ex-Tory (full cringe) SPAD, on whether or not Scotland will be immune to race-related riots this summer, the latter said: Um, I think it’s fair to say that there is an increase in Scotland in kind of low…it does seem to be fairly clear that there’s an increase in relatively low level anti-social behaviour…I think there are big problems there. There’s big unrest there….but…Scotland is not England and Scotland doesn’t necessarily experience the same things that England experiences particularly around the … Continue reading There is nothing worse than Scottish exceptionalism on summer riots? Yes, the dark kind Tory and Labour SPADs spend their hours grubbing for